Excluding the obvious that the fan could be bad,

Have you ever opened the case and cleaned the components?

Do you have the system where air can circulate freely? It would not be unusual for a system which is enclosed in a computer stand or sandwiched between a wall and a stand to not get sufficient air flow.

DA

My husband agrees with damccoy about cleaning it out and checking the air circulation.

He says it could also be a power supply issue. The power supply can give strange, intermittent behavior and can be difficult to troubleshoot. He works in I.T. for a large company and wants to make sure I remind you NEVER TO OPEN A POWER SUPPLY. :) (I can't tell you how many times I've heard this! LOL) If the power supply is fluctuating and doesn't regulate correctly, your fan can get a more powerful jolt, or will drag, depending on how much power it's receiving. As this happens, the fan will either speed up as it gets more power (and will seem louder) or it will slow down and drag if it's not receiving enough. He says this would be the first thing he would suspect.

He says another possibility is a RAM issue. I guess RAM can be tempermental and odd. Sometimes moving the RAM around into differnt slots can do the trick. Or, you may have a bad stick.

Hope this helps. I'm the gardener, quilter.. so this is HIS expertise, not mine! Good luck.

The fan in mine will come on when there are two or three different programs running, in addition to those which run as a result of the startup process. And the hourglass will show intermittently. I try to keep the programs in the startup process to a very few.

I have a Dell XP.
Last week my grandson down loaded a bunch
of pictures to make a film clip -apx 100 pictures.
The fan went into high gear and than failed.
We ordered a new fan from Dell and it came yesterday.
We installed it, but now the computer dosen't come on.
An Amber light comes on instead of a green light
and the monitor says no signal.
Did my G-son burn my computer up?
Help!..........cheryl

Hi Cheryl,
Reseat the video cable (disconnect/reconnect)with the power (computer and monitor) OFF then turn the computer on. The first thing to rule out is disconnected (or badly connected) cables.

Pam

You have to ask yourself why did the fan go into high gear in the first place before anybody did anything.

When the fan went into high gear the first time and failed, did the computer function after that? It really sounds like the processor has over heated and failed, the processor is the big square chip under the fan that controls the computer functions. I think the processor may have over - heated the first time and that's why the fan went to high gear in an attempt to cool the processor but was unable to and the processor has failed..

That's my best guess. What is the model #?

zep

Hello Pam,& Cheryl

Sorry Pam looks like we both were typing at the same time, those instructions you gave were going to be my first, but something went wrong before anyone went inside and that's why I'm thinking this way.

Cheryl,I would also try Pam's instruction you may get lucky..

Zep, we were cross-posting!

Cheryl,
I hope I'm right âº

Yes, the computer still worked after the fan stopped working.
We turned it on twice - I turned it on the 1st time,
my husband the 2nd time
and turned it right back off both times.
Except for the fan, the computer was working fine.
My husband has completely unplugged it
and plugged it back in for the 2nd time again
this morning. I took it to work and had my boss
hook it up to his monitor and same thing.
Amber light and the monitor says no signal.
But between the 3 of us, we know only the basics,
but pretty good at following directions.

Model # is DHP 2004

Thanks for both of you answering!!!!.........cheryl

I concur with Zep that it seems that the processor may be shot. Connecting to a known good monitor with no change in symptoms kinda confirms it. Is the computer under warranty? I've never downloaded 100 pictures at once, but I cannot help but feel that this was coincidental, not the work of the DGS âº

Pam

No, it's not under warranty.
I bought it at Tiger 14 months ago.
Quess I'll check them out again tomorrow.
I MISS MY COMPUTER!

Ok, my neighbor says I have to go home now...........cheryl

Amber light and the monitor says no signal.

Does that mean the amber light is not lit? - meaning there is no power. Or does that mean the amber light is on steady? Which means you have power but the problem is internal.

Check to see if this has a BESTEC power supply. These were installed in eMachines and failed at the drop of a hat. Frequently they took the motherboard with them as well.

Be sure to get firm quotes on any repairs if you go that route as it may prove beneficial to buy a new computer rather than pay too much to fix an older machine.

Cheryl if this is the motherboard be very careful. Microsoft changed the rules a couple of years ago. If you motherboard is toast a new motherboard requires a new copy of XP as it is now tied to the specific motherboard it was installed on. Nasty people at MS. Also if you swap the mobo the repair folks will wipe your hard drive and lose all your data very likely. Just points to ponder.

I told my husband last night I think the computer is toast!
I'm getting off work in 15 min
and we're going shopping for a new one.
I'll probably be back here with all
new questions in a day or so.

Re: Amber light - it comes on and stays on.
I'll ask Bill if it has a BESTEC power supply.
Kinda hoping maybe we could fix it so grandson could use when he's here for the weekends and leave ours alone!!!!
Thanks for all your help. .........cheryl

set your grandson up a guest account or very limited user account on any pc so that he has his own login and Never uses your administrator account (keep your password safe). That is one of the first things to do to keep anyone from doing things to your pc that could harm them.